Shade looked towards the direction of the source of the cat's meow, and saw the light of fire appearing in the black mist. Then little Mia quickly ran over, and relying on the protrusions and decorations on the surface of the armor, she jumped directly from the ground to Shade.
shoulders.
Shade knew that this was little Mia without even having to detect it. The completely lukewarm flames on its tail were very special and could not be imitated by mere illusion.
"Why did you come here? Where is Miss Knight? Which direction did you come from just now?"
Shade asked softly, and the cat said "meow~" again, but because it obviously didn't understand Shade's words, it didn't give directions.
However, the strange flames on its tail seemed to have the effect of dispersing the black mist. So Shade hugged the cat and walked towards the direction it came from just now.
The black mist has the effect of distorting space. Although the church is not big, Shade felt that he had to walk a hundred steps before he saw the light in front of him. As he continued to move forward, the sudden white light made him close his eyes.
When he got used to the light and opened his eyes, he was clearly taking little Mia with him in a corridor covered with red carpets, walls painted with gold paint, and decorated with crystal chandeliers and various antique oil paintings.
This corridor reminded Shade of Yodel Palace, but it also looked like the residences of other great nobles.
As for himself, he was still wearing the golden armor at this time, and he lined up in two lines with the other five armored knights, followed by Knight who was walking in the front, holding a red cushion in his hand, with a green crystal placed on the cushion.
Behind the lady.
Miss Knight was still wearing her armor, but without a helmet. Because Shade was standing at the first place in the row of knights, he could see her profile and judged that her expression was very serious.
"Is this an illusion created by the thing in the coffin?"
He thought suspiciously, not knowing whether he should speak, but "she" in his ear reminded softly:
[There is a similar power to the "Illusion of White Bones" that you and the elf Siam Nord encountered last time. It is judged that the power of the sealed ancient creature and the power of the desert jointly created this illusion. 】
"I understand, this is the second illusion that I have to witness with the gods as part of my mission, right? I understand."
Shade nodded and decided to see what would happen next.
The group of seven people continued to move forward under the leadership of Miss Knight, who was holding a green crystal. However, after only a few dozen steps, they turned around the corner of the corridor, and then two monsters shrouded in black mist stopped them.
In front of a group of people.
The two monsters could only be seen as slender human figures, and their specific appearance could not be clearly seen at all. In front of them, there were two people kneeling:
"Congratulations, Knight Shelly Knight, you finally brought back [Heart of the Oasis] for His Majesty."
Shade squinted at the green crystal that had no elemental response.
"But you have been away for too long, and now the situation in the kingdom has changed drastically, and the situation in the palace is also somewhat different.
You need to sacrifice one person to us to move forward. The one on the left is a murderer. In order to avenge his exhausted mother, he killed thirteen members of the wealthy businessman's family; the one on the right is a rapist, who raped and killed the viscount who was out for fun.
Youngest son, who do you want to sacrifice?"
Miss Knight's expression did not change at all:
"The one on the right."
So the man kneeling on the right was dragged away by two masses of black mist amidst screams. The black mist disappeared. Miss Knight did not even look at the murderer on the left and continued to lead the group forward.
After a few dozen steps, they encountered a corner again, this time turning to the left. After the corner, five transparent souls were being burned above the flames blocking the road, including two on the left and three on the right. And one had red skin all over his body, and in his hand
A humanoid monster holding a big black fork and having sheep's hooves and horns stopped everyone in front of the flames.
In other words, this is the typical devil image in fairy tales:
"There are five souls here. The two on the left are guilty of robbery but not worthy of death; the three on the right are guilty of theft but the same number is not large. You have to make a choice. These are the souls of your kingdom. Give them to me.
Souls on either side, I can let you move on."
Miss Knight still made the decision without any hesitation:
"Two on the left."
"Don't you think about it?"
The monster asked, and the female knight shook her head. Then the monster laughed and turned into black smoke and took away the two souls on the left. The flames under the three souls on the right disappeared, and they quickly escaped through the corridor wall.
.
Miss Knight led everyone to move forward, and after turning a corner again, what blocked everyone this time was a huge crack nearly five meters wide across the corridor, with bubbling hot magma in the crack.
Seven trembling citizens stood next to the crack, three on the left and four on the right. Each of them had a chain connected to an iron ball tied to their right foot, preventing them from leaving.
When everyone got closer, a two-meter-tall flame giant emerged from the magma. It was also using the common language of this era:
"If you want to leave, throw the person on the left or right into the lava with your own hands!"
Miss Knight squinted her eyes slightly, as if to judge whether she could beat the opponent. But the result was obvious, so she handed the thing she was holding to the other person behind her and stepped forward with the sword. Shade thought at this time
He wanted to speak out to stop it and defeat this unknown elemental creature by himself, but after thinking about it, he did nothing.
【Why not do it?】
"She" asked softly in Shade's ear. Shade was wearing a helmet at this time, so it was like someone was in the armor with him.
"Strictly speaking, the illusion that my mother-in-law experienced last time in Siam Nod was not decoded by me. It was something that my mother-in-law wanted to understand. Now is not the time to take action. Besides, it is all an illusion. Why should I be worried?"
Miss Knight walked to the lava crack, swung her sword and killed the three people on the left without expression, then cut off their right feet and threw the bodies into the lava.
None of the following knights spoke, so the magma faded away, the cracks closed, and the corridor returned to normal.
Miss Knight tore off the coat of one of the people on the left to wipe her bloody sword, and then motioned for everyone to move forward.
After turning again at the end of the corridor, a golden door decorated with gems finally appeared not far from the new corridor. It seemed that this was the destination.
But the door was closed tightly, and there was a moving face with fangs on the door, which also made a request:
"Kill your companions so that I can allow you to continue taking [Heart of Oasis] to meet your queen. Besides you, there are six knights here. Just kill four of them. My request is not excessive.
point."
This time, Miss Knight finally did not take action immediately. Instead, she held the crystal and took a deep breath. Then, she turned around and handed the crystal to Shade, then drew her sword and killed her companion.
Those knights only put up a token resistance and were killed neatly by Miss Knight. During this period, Shade kept covering little Mia's eyes, not wanting the cat to see this brutal scene.
And the face on the door kept its promise and opened the door after the death of the fourth person.
Miss Knight retrieved the spar and entered behind the door with Shade and another person who had remained silent.
Behind the door is a huge room with gray ashlar on all sides. The fire in the fireplace is burning brightly. A thin woman with a crown and a face is wearing a nightgown and covered with a quilt, sitting on the surprisingly large velvet four-poster bed.
.
There were no curtains around the bed, and there were only two expressionless maids standing on the left and right of the bed.
"His Majesty."
Miss Knight knelt down on one knee and saluted, the remaining knight did the same, and Shade stood still.
"Following your instructions, I successfully brought back the [Heart of the Oasis] in that strange place, and broke through the obstacles and returned to you. Please write a letter and spend a lot of money to hire the witch again and let her
Use [Heart of Oasis] to save our cursed kingdom."
The blonde queen who seemed to be seriously ill on the bed coughed twice, and then said weakly:
"Shelly, I'm really glad to see you again."
Then he coughed twice more:
"Heart of the Oasis, you finally brought it back. Very good, really good. But you have to tell me, did you violate your oath of knighthood along the way?"
The gray-haired female knight did not speak, so the weak queen looked at her with gray eyes and continued:
"You choose to sacrifice the murderer or the gunman, but do you really have the right to judge others?
Robbers and thieves, you choose to sacrifice the few to protect the many, but in the end two people died because of you;
And those seven innocent citizens, why did you kill three of them without hesitation? Because you have already made your choice twice before, don’t you want your past cruelty to become stupid?”
"Because by killing three, you can save the other four."
Miss Knight answered respectfully, and the queen on the bed continued to ask:
"So, you finally violated the oath of knighthood and killed innocent people with your own hands."
"Yes, because I promised you to bring [Heart of Oasis] back. There is nothing more important than this."
"So, at the door of this dormitory, you killed your companions with your own hands and became a real butcher. Shelly, don't you really feel guilty? Don't you feel that you have fallen? "
The female knight kneeling on one knee looked up at her queen this time, with the expression on her face still determined:
"Your Majesty, for this mission, countless people have been sacrificed so far. I will not stop at the last step for any reason. You can think of this as my persistence. As ordinary people, there are not many things we can do, but if If necessary, I am even willing to sacrifice my own life and soul for this matter. [Heart of Oasis] must come here, and the kingdom must be saved."
"People who say such things usually lead to tragedy."
Shade, who was standing, thought in his mind, and the queen on the bed coughed several times in succession. Shade suspected that she was about to cough out her lungs.
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